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The W - Internet & Computers - I thought Macs didnt do this!
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DJ FrostyFreeze
Scrapple








Since: 2.1.02
From: Hawthorne, CA

Since last post: 137 days
Last activity: 137 days
#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.46
Read it and weep, fella


I have a Mac G5 tower running OSX 10.5.6. The desktop completely froze on me a couple days ago, so I did a "hold the power button down" restart. When it came back on, I got the gray Apple logo screen I always get at startup, but it never gets past that. Then after a few minutes, my fans rev up really loud like it's trying to blast off or something.

I Googled my problem and I came up with a few solutions like this one:

    Originally posted by http://alexking.org/blog/2006/12/15/powermac-quad-ram-fix
    To boot into Open Firmware, shut down your Mac, then start it up while holding down the Command, Option, O and F keys. At the prompt, enter the following commands (you may want to write them down on a piece of paper before beginning this process), pressing the return key after each:

    reset-nvram
    set-defaults
    reset-all

    After which your Mac will restart.
Even though I havent added RAM to my machine in months, my symptoms were the same as this guy's, so I tried his fix but it didnt work.

Then I Googled around some more and came up with another fix (that I cant find now). Not only did that not work either, but now when I get to the grey Apple logo screen, the whole machine shuts off after a couple minutes! Some people with my earlier problem said they went to the Apple store and got it fixed for free (something about the Mac not being able to find your HD or something), so I've got an appointment at my local Apple store for this Saturday.

HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS:

Anything else I could try before Saturday?

Has anyone ever taken their Mac to the Apple store for service? Anything I should know going in?

Is all my stuff gone forever?????



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Lise
Mrs. Guru








Since: 11.12.01

Since last post: 3090 days
Last activity: 2863 days
#2 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.60
I haven't had a Mac lose a hard drive in awhile... but it does happen. Er, lose, as in the damn computer can't find it, not that it is truly gone. I haven't had it happen on a newer mac, but on a much older model I was able to use a Tools disk and spend many hours of my life swearing and trying to point out to the computer that the hard drive was RIGHT THERE. I have no idea what made the computer finally pick it up, I'm betting something between black magic and magic blue smoke. It was frustrating, time consuming, and I'm still not sure the damn thing didn't fix itself.

Taking it to the Apple Store should be relatively painless other than all of the second hand smug you'll have to inhale. However, if they tell you it can't be fixed or that the fix will be extremely expensive, see if you have an Apple authorized repair place in the area that isn't an Apple store, and take it in for a second opinion.

My MacBook had a problem that was clearly a well documented problem with a particular part, and the Apple Store wanted $1500 to fix it, the approved repair place found it to be under warranty. I think a lot of that difference had to do with the difference in staff. The people at the approved repair don't deal with mall shoppers all day, get to hide in a back room and actually specialize in repairs.
DJ FrostyFreeze
Scrapple








Since: 2.1.02
From: Hawthorne, CA

Since last post: 137 days
Last activity: 137 days
#3 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.46
Read it and weep, fella


    Originally posted by Lise
    However, if they tell you it can't be fixed or that the fix will be extremely expensive, see if you have an Apple authorized repair place in the area that isn't an Apple store, and take it in for a second opinion.
Thanks for the tip! I'll let you know it turns out.



CLICK OR DIE
DJ FrostyFreeze
Scrapple








Since: 2.1.02
From: Hawthorne, CA

Since last post: 137 days
Last activity: 137 days
#4 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.46
Read it and weep, fella


    Originally posted by DJ FrostyFreeze
    I'll let you know it turns out.
Not good

I took my Mac to the Apple store Saturday and it turns out my HD failed. The guy at the Genius Bar was very nice though. Luckily, I have a 2nd HD in there and it was practically empty, so the Mac genius guy hooked me up with another install of OS X on the 2nd good drive (10.5.6, which I upgraded to 10.5.8 when I got home).

As for getting my lost files back, he couldnt do it at the store, but he said I've got 2 options (I forget what he called them):
  • A) I could take my HD somewhere, where they'd connect it to another computer and hopefully find my files. He refused to tell me how much that MIGHT cost.

  • B) I could take my HD somewhere, where they'd dis-assemble my HD and somehow retrieve my files that way? He said that would cost at LEAST $1000, probably more.

    So I took my Mac home, plugged it in, and it turns out the OS still recognizes that my bum HD is there and I can even explore it sometimes. It let me open the old "Applications" folder and I even dragged some files out of it. I asked it to search for "All Images" and it actually found most (all?) of them, but I couldnt click on or open any of them. When I "Get info" on the HD, it tells me the drive's capacity (148.91GB) and available space (39.75GB), so it looks like all my stuff is THERE, I just cant get to it and I dont know what kind of shape it's all in. So here are my 2 new Questions of the Day:

    The computer "found" my old files (sorta). That's a good sign, right??

    Can I do Option "A" above by myself or do I have to take it somewhere?????



    CLICK OR DIE
  • Mr. Boffo
    Scrapple








    Since: 24.3.02
    From: Oshkosh, WI

    Since last post: 3895 days
    Last activity: 3856 days
    #5 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.29
    This is weird and I've never tried it myself and maybe do some research on it yourself but I was reminded of someone I know who had their hard drive die:
    http://hijinksensue.com/2009/04/29/saying-goodbye-is-the-hardest-partition/

    Basically the jist of it is that the you can make a bad hard drive work for a little while if you lower the temperature of it.
    http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html

    I don't know if I would try it unless it was my last resort, but there you are.
    Leroy
    Boudin blanc








    Since: 7.2.02

    Since last post: 12 days
    Last activity: 6 days
    #6 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.33

    One avenue you might try is getting a USB enclosure in which you can attach your drive to another computer as an "external" USB drive. I'm guessing that's pretty much what Option A is anyway.

    I believe the G5 drive is a 3.5" Sata drive. You should be able to find an enclosure at Fries. Most enclosures run between $30 and $50, depending. I've had some luck salvaging failing drives in this manner, but I think you'll need to act sooner than later.





    Who likes the little little duckies in the pond? I do, I do, I do, a chicka-quack quack.
    Cerebus
    Scrapple








    Since: 17.11.02

    Since last post: 2460 days
    Last activity: 2182 days
    #7 Posted on | Instant Rating: 1.48
    As silly as it sounds, try popping that HD in the freezer for an hour.

    I had an external HD that I thought was all but dead until a friend told me to put it in the freezer for an hour and then hook it up and I was able to salvage everything off it.





    Forget it Josh... it's Cerebustown.
    Guru Zim
    SQL Dejection
    Administrator








    Since: 9.12.01
    From: Bay City, OR

    Since last post: 8 days
    Last activity: 17 hours
    ICQ:  
    #8 Posted on | Instant Rating: 9.17
      Originally posted by Cerebus
      As silly as it sounds, try popping that HD in the freezer for an hour.

      I had an external HD that I thought was all but dead until a friend told me to put it in the freezer for an hour and then hook it up and I was able to salvage everything off it.




    Do not do this until the last resort. Moisture will ruin your drive.

    I was able to recover a server once by taking the case off and dropping it down into the space under the raised floor where all of the cold air was. By dropping the temp drastically I was able to get it to boot one last time and I pulled critical files off of it.




    Sign up for Folding@Home and join our team. PM me for details.

    Ignorance is bliss for you, hell for me.
    SchippeWreck
    Banger








    Since: 26.3.03
    From: Glendale, CA

    Since last post: 2106 days
    Last activity: 176 days
    #9 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.74
    When the hard drive failed on my old lamp-style iMac, I had success with DiskWarrior (store.apple.com).

    In my case though, I ran DiskWarrior on my Macbook Pro, connected to the iMac via USB. It found and rebuilt the bad drive enough for me to recover everything critical. I'm pretty sure it would work the same in your situation.



    "It's magic! We don't need to explain it!"
    CRZ
    Big Brother
    Administrator








    Since: 9.12.01
    From: ミネアポリス

    Since last post: 8 days
    Last activity: 3 days
    ICQ:  
    #10 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.85
      Originally posted by SchippeWreck
      When the hard drive failed on my old lamp-style iMac, I had success with DiskWarrior (store.apple.com).

      In my case though, I ran DiskWarrior on my Macbook Pro, connected to the iMac via USB. It found and rebuilt the bad drive enough for me to recover everything critical. I'm pretty sure it would work the same in your situation.
    Yeah, I'd really try this first if it isn't hardware failure. DiskWarrior can fix anything except hardware failure.









    emma
    Cherries > Peaches








    Since: 1.8.02
    From: Phoenix-ish

    Since last post: 445 days
    Last activity: 167 days
    #11 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.39
    I'll take my turn being the obnoxious ass who mentions that, once you get put back together, I assume you'll want to get a backup strategy in place. I haven't had to retrieve anything back out yet, but Time Machine seems reeeeeeeally slick, smart, & easy.
    DJ FrostyFreeze
    Scrapple








    Since: 2.1.02
    From: Hawthorne, CA

    Since last post: 137 days
    Last activity: 137 days
    #12 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.46
    Read it and weep, fella


    Thanks for all the suggestions & links! I'll definitely have a backup regimen in place when I get settled.

    While reading up on Disk Warrior, I found a similar program called "Data Recovery II". It doesnt fix corrupted drives, it only (hopefully) allows you to recover lost data from them. I found a 'no-pay' copy and tried it last night. It took about 3-4 hours to "analyze" my bum HD, but all it could save was a bunch of system-type files I have no use for :(. I think I'll try it again this weekend before I give up and move on to PLAN B.

    PLAN B is to buy an external USB enclosure and try connecting the drive to my Mac, then to my PC, THEN TO THE FREEZER HAHAHAHA just kidding. I'll save that freezer thing for dead last (no pun intended). If the external USB thing doesnt work on the Mac OR the PC (what does a Mac-formatted HD look like to a PC, anyway?), then I move on to PLAN C.

    PLAN C is to break down (no pun) and pay $100 for Disk Warrior. I'm only doing this AFTER the enclosure idea because the enclosure is cheaper and I could use a new enclosure anyway. I searched high & low for a free copy last night with no luck. Maybe I'll keep looking again tonight. Anywho, if Disk Warrior doesnt work, then I guess I have nothing to lose and I usher in PLAN D.

    PLAN D of course is the freezer. Maybe not the freezer freezer, but some similar method that will make the drive really cold. I've been brainstorming "make the drive cold AND DRY and keep it cold while I work" methods all night with a couple friends and all we can come up with so far is for me to put it in the glove box of my car overnight. Maybe I could put it in the crawlspace under my house or leave it exposed in the backyard overnight, but would it get all dew-y in the morning? Either way, I still dont know how keep it cold while I work.

    Any suggestions?




    CLICK OR DIE
    Leroy
    Boudin blanc








    Since: 7.2.02

    Since last post: 12 days
    Last activity: 6 days
    #13 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.33
      Originally posted by DJ FrostyFreeze
      Either way, I still dont know how keep it cold while I work.

      Any suggestions?



    I'd try a freezer safe zip lock bag. Try to get as much of the air out as you possibly can as even the air moisture in the bag itself could be an issue if it condenses in/on the drive. You might even try the fridge first.

    If you have one of those AS SEEN ON TV vacuum sealers, I'd use that.

    Edit: I would never expect a drive to work again after I put it in a freezer, a fridge, or left it outside. But I'm crazy like that.

    (edited by Leroy on 8.10.09 1016)


    Who likes the little little duckies in the pond? I do, I do, I do, a chicka-quack quack.
    Big G
    Landjager








    Since: 21.8.03
    From: the people who brought you Steel Magnolias....

    Since last post: 19 days
    Last activity: 6 hours
    #14 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.20
    Maybe try something like this?

    http://www.thermo.com/com/cda/product/detail/0,1055,21853,00.html

    Back when I was working doing electronic maintenance, we would use heaps of this stuff for fault finding (radio tech in a can!)

    I can't find the brand we used to use, so I assume it probably ate the ozone layer.

    Some of them tend to build up a static charge which you need to be careful of when using on electronics. But if you have an external enclosure like some of the metal nexus ones that use the case as a heatsink it wouldn't matter.
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